Chapter 42

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*Corey*

"Yay!" I laughed as Izabella let out a shout when the bus finally drove up to the familiar bus station in the city just outside Inferno territory.

"Wha –? We're here?" Sean rubbed his eyes as his mate gently shook him from sleep.

"Yeah, come. You smell," Izabella said, grabbing his hand.

"You like my smell," Sean mumbled.

"No, I like your cologne. You smell bad now." Izabella patted his head with a pout.

I chuckled at the pair before tuning out of their bickering as I made my way out of the bus following the other people that were climbing off. I waited as the rest of my friends gathered and checked to make sure Jayden was close even though I could feel him right behind me before we began to head towards the exit.

"Alright, let's get out of here!" Trent said, as we walked out of the station.

"We can't just 'get out of here.' We need to call someone to pick us up," Kaden said, motioning to Kyle and Finn.

"Oh, has no one told them?" Sean looked around and everyone shrugged. "Why not?" Once again, the question was answered by more shrugging.

"I thought Kaden was supposed to," Trent said.

"Told us what? Are you murderers?" Kyle joked.

"No. Worse," Kaden smirked.

"Kade, shut up." Jayden rolled his eyes before frowning at his best friend. "You were supposed to tell them."

"I was waiting until they were too far from the city to run away, but since you insist." He turned to the brothers. "We are werewolves. Yes, like the mythical shapeshifters mentioned in books. No, I'm not joking," he said seriously.

I watched as Finn stared at him confused while Kyle began laughing.

"Nice," Kyle spoke when he was done laughing. "Is this a joke you make with all new friends that visit your home?"

"I just said... It's true." Kaden's lips tilted downwards.

"You cannot expect us to believe that, Kade. Werewolves? Is that even still a trend?" Kyle asked.

I agreed with how he was responding to the reveal and would have probably reacted the same way. Kaden's method of telling them wasn't very good.

"Then believe this." He moved to grab their waists as if hugging each of them with one arm before the three of them seemed to vanish. They didn't actually disappear, Kaden just ran. It was too fast for any human to notice the movement.

"Great... Let's go," Sean said.

We followed Kaden's trail back to just outside the Galaxy borders and I smiled when I came to a halt beside the fence. Finally, home. It felt great. I missed the smell of our forests.

"Wha-what the hell was that?!" Kyle exclaimed, stumbling away from Kaden as soon as he was let go and pulling Finn with him.

"Do you believe me now?" Kaden asked.

"What did you do?! It's impossible to run that fast. Is-is this some kind of stunt you're pulling on the new guys? I –" Kyle was cut off when we heard something crack.

Kaden had begun to shift, and though the sound of breaking bones was normal to me, I knew it must have been utterly terrifying and nauseating to the pair of humans.

Kyle stared at Kaden's morphing body in utter disbelief as Finn basically shook with fear, both unable to look away despite their shock.

My eyes returned to Kaden as his body did its final bit of reshaping before his wolf form stood completed in front of us. He was quite big for his age, but that was expected from an Alpha. His wolf was a solid black that matched Izabella's, the dark colour of his fur making his yellow eyes look all the more threatening, despite him not intending that.

We all watched Kyle and Finn silently as they stared at Kaden.

"Oh my gosh, you've grown so much. You used to be so much smaller. You look great!" Rita's compliment was immediately met by a low, jealous growl from Trent that made me chuckle.

"So... There he is... Do you believe us now?" Hayley asked, stepping forward but Kyle immediately backed away, seemingly snapping out of his trance, his wide eyes moving to her.

"W-what the fuck are you?! No, Finn –" He shoved his brother behind his back when Finn began to reach out to touch Kaden. "Don't touch it," he said.

"He won't bite you. He's still Kaden," Jayden said carefully.

"Kyle –" Hayley began.

"Shh –" he cut her off as he gave a dry laugh of disbelief while running his quivering hands over his face. "Be quiet..." he mumbled.

I noticed that he hadn't gone completely ballistic yet and was slightly impressed, although wary. Was he good or was he saving it for later? They all reacted differently, usually there was more screaming and running for their lives though. Maybe he was in denial? Wait, was he sweating? I squinted my eyes at the beads glistening on Kyle's temple.

Finn seemed too awe-struck and terrified to make a sound as he just opened his mouth and shut it again continuously, like a fish out of water while staying behind his older brother.

"I-I don't know how you did that –" Kyle said when he was done having his moment. "But stop it. And could you let us leave? I mean, it's really cool and everything, but I'm kind of freaking out here – you can't see it, but I am. And uh..." Kyle let out a breath, his eyes looked crazy, "I –" he was cut off by a growl and everyone turned to see who it was, but at the same time we heard something crash to the ground.

"Finn?!" Jayden's eyes widened.

Kyle turned to his brother, and I couldn't help but laugh at Finn's unconscious body on the ground, Trent, Zeke and Sean laughed along with me while Izabella shot us a disapproving glare. How could we not laugh though? Finn's skin had gone ghostly pale before he fainted. I would have thought he was dead had I not known better.

"Why, Dad?" she frowned at the wolf that had growled.

Ian was surrounded by Marcus, Cole and a wolf from our army, they were in human form except the Alpha.

'It seemed like fun,' he growled and it only made me laugh more.

"Oh my God –!" Kyle was starting to freak out now. It probably had something to do with Ian's size. He was huge and just looked incredibly dangerous. Trent grabbed Kyle's shoulders, turning the human to him.

"Calm down," he spoke, staring directly into the pair of terrified, wide eyes. Just like that, Kyle seemed to go completely calm, maybe too much but he was calm, so it was cool.

"What do we –?" Hayley was cut off by Ian shifting while immediately tugging on the pants Cole had brought for him before the Alpha stared at us, stunned.

I was confused as he walked towards us but when he walked right by me, I knew what he was so startled by.

"Adan...?" he whispered, slowly taking hold of Adan's arms. He stared at his hands on his son's biceps as if wondering if he was really holding onto them or just imagining it.

"Hi, Dad." Adan smiled, although his eyes had teared up.

"How are you here...? How-how is this happening?" Ian whispered as he patted Adan's arms seemingly still unconvinced.

"Well, Jayden brought me back with the help of the witch, Bianca. So here I am. Alive." Adan smiled taking hold of one of his father's hands as if to prove that fact.

I was pretty sure I wasn't the only one stunned when Ian suddenly punched Adan in the gut, it wasn't hard enough to make him fall to his knees in pain, but Adan had the air knocked out of him and bent over with a cough.

"W-What was that for?" He coughed as he clutched his stomach.

"The next time I tell you to be careful in a battle, you better listen to me. Damn it, Adan!" Ian said.

I raised my eyebrows as Adan began laughing while Ian pulled him into a tight hug.

Izabella's family had always been weird.

I heard Cole chuckle.

"So, who are the other people?" he asked.

Sean looked at me and I rolled my eyes figuring that he wanted me to answer. I guess it made sense, the new people were a result of a trip I forced everyone to make.

"That's Rita, she's Trent's mate and part of Joe's pack. This is Kyle... a... uh... friend." I glanced at Hayley and Cole nodded in understanding. "That's Finn, Jayden's friend. He's Kyle's brother. And this –" I patted Zeke's shoulder, "is the newest addition to our pack, Zeke." I grinned.

"Oh? New addition?" Ian smiled. "Well, I'm Ian, Alpha of the Galaxy pack. This is Cole, my Beta, Marcus is a Warlock, he's stuck here until his apartment's fixed back in Beijing. This is a soldier of ours, Henry. Welcome to the pack, Zeke." Ian patted Zeke's shoulder, probably to read his power.

"What? I mean... Just-just like that?" Zeke asked surprised. "Isn't there... an initiation process or test or something?"

"Well, we will have to formally introduce you to the pack, and run a background check, but I'm sure you'll fit right in," Ian said.

"But... You're not going to interrogate me or anything?" Zeke asked.

"No. I trust Junior's judgement," Ian ruffled my hair and I glared at him while Sean laughed. I was annoyed but didn't dare swipe the Alpha's hands away like I would have anyone else's.

"I feel like I should be freaking out right now... But I also feel numb... and my head's kind of light... Finn?" Kyle's voice had us turning back to him. He looked dazed as he stared down at his brother.

We looked at Trent who shrugged. "Hey, it calmed him down. If numbness is a side effect, at least he's not hyperventilating."

"Right." Sean nodded.

"Alright, someone get Finn off the ground and let's head back," Ian said.

I grabbed Finn, easily tugging his limp body off the grass before swinging him onto Kaden's back.

"It is your fault he fainted." I smiled as the wolf gave me a low growl.

"No, actually it's Alpha Ian's fault," Jayden said.

Ian chuckled. "Yes, it is. Don't drop him, Kaden. Humans get head injuries very easily," he said.

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